


for you a thousand times over

by mind_boggling



Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, and familial relationships, i am a sucker for microleo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 03:24:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12974811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mind_boggling/pseuds/mind_boggling
Summary: When she’s three years old, she’s an attention seeker who constantly pulls Sarah away from her little brother. He’s smitten with the three of them, wondering how he could have ever gotten so lucky.Why does Mommy love Zach most?she asks, tears streaming down her little pink cheeks as she sits herself upon his lap. He holds her in his arms, kissing her forehead.He tells her that Mommy loves them equally, and if she didn’t believe it, that he’d always love her the most. Butshh, you can’t tell Zach I said that okay?In the whole wide world?she sniffles.He nods. In the whole wide world.





	for you a thousand times over

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starsdust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsdust/gifts).



> when david’s told he’ll be a father, he can’t begin to imagine how much it will change him

When she’s a line on a pregnancy test, he’s crying into Sarah’s arms and kissing her hands over and over. She’s laughing, and her hands find their way to his curls as he presses his lips to her stomach. 

There’s something growing inside of her, something half him, half her, perfect as a whole. And he’s overflowing with happiness as they sit on the couch in their newly rented apartment. There’s no way they can afford anything at that minute, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

 _We’re going to have a baby_ , she says, eyes a glaze with tears. 

—

When she’s the size of a walnut growing in Sarah’s stomach, he holds her hand and tries his best not to cry during the ultrasound. The nurse is friendly, smile beaming as ‘everything is doing well with baby Lieberman’. He’s glad, so glad, that this little walnut exists.

 _Would you like to hear the heartbeat?_ she asks, and his tears manage to get the better of him. And when the quick thud sounds in his ears he lets out a sigh of relief. 

Sarah smiles from the bed, squeezing onto his hand as she can see him wipe tears from his eyes. 

_You sappy loser, David_ , she says, whispers. 

—

When she’s the size of a balloon, floating in Sarah’s stomach, he yells as her waters coat the floor of their house. She’s abnormally cool about it, and he’s the complete opposite.

He grabs the pre-packed bag from the corner of the room before shoving a hat and scarf on as well as a jacket, because trust _them_ to time it with winter. The car engine starts after he’s run out of the front door.

 _Forgetting something?_ Sarah asks, from their living room, and he runs back toward the house in a frenzy. Trust _him_ to forget his wife during her baby delivery.

—

When she’s a newborn, he’s holding Sarah’s hand and letting her squeeze as hard as she needs. It hurts, like hell, but no hell compared to what she was going through. 

_I can’t do it, David, I can’t do it_ , she pants beneath her pushing and he presses their foreheads together, not leaving her side until their baby is outside of her body safely.

She screams and she’s covered in gunk, but she’s the most beautiful little girl he’d ever seen in his life. And he laughs in disbelief, Sarah laughing with him as she leans back in relief, her hand falling limp in his own.

And he cries.

—

When she’s one year old, he’s throwing her a _Mr Blue Bear_ themed birthday party. Sarah’s annoyance is made known as he shoves a camera in Leo’s face throughout the entirety of her birthday.

 _Stop shoving the camera in her face, David, please_ , Sarah snaps, and he just laughs as he looks at the two girls in front of him with a huge smile on his face. Because he loves them more than he can imagine.

Then Leo mutters her first word on that day, and it just happens to be _Dadda_. And so Sarah’s the one filming him whilst he cries, holding her close to his chest, listening to her heartbeat against his own.

—

When she’s three years old, she’s an attention seeker who constantly pulls Sarah away from her little brother. He’s smitten with the three of them, wondering how he could have ever gotten so lucky. 

_Why does Mommy love Zach most?_ she asks, tears streaming down her little pink cheeks as she sits herself upon his lap. He holds her in his arms, kissing her forehead. 

He tells her that Mommy loves them equally, and if she didn’t believe it, that he’d always love her the most. But _shh, you can’t tell Zach I said that okay?_

 _In the whole wide world?_ she sniffles.  
He nods. _In the whole wide world._

—

When she’s seven, she comes home from school crying. It’s a sight, and it wounds his entire heart to see her in such pain. Sarah is out with Zach, so the two of them sit and she tells him.

 _They made fun of me for having a boys name_ , she says, and his heart breaks in two right there and then. Leo holds his hand and he squeezes her tiny fingers in his own. _Why did you give me a boys name?_ she asks.

And he tells her of the nurse who delivered her, how he was very patient with Daddy’s constant crying and Mommy’s screaming, so they named her after him. And he tells her that there’s no name that’s specific to a man or woman. And she laughs-

And it’s the best sound in the world.

—

When she’s eleven years old and she cries at the blood in her pants, he turns to Sarah for help. She explains about growing up, and after drying Leo’s tears, lets her eat chocolate before dinner.

And he notices it’s the first time she goes to Sarah for something and not him- it becomes a regular thing. A woman thing. And he feels that he loses little bits of Leo every single day.

 _Can you check my math homework, Dad?_ is what clicks with him, as she sits next to him on the couch whilst he’s watching TV. Zach is tucked up under his arm asleep. 

He knows Sarah knows next to nothing about math and happily obliges. Just to spend that little bit of time with her.

—

When she’s fourteen years old, she runs away from home and tells that she hates him. So much that she can’t even be in the house anymore. 

He knows Sarah can’t cope with it and she’s having breakdowns by the day now. He’s responsible, and the guilt eats him up inside, and he trembles with sadness almost every night. 

_I hate him! Why did he have to do something stupid? Why did he have to die and leave us all alone?_ is what she says right before she storms out the house. And Sarah cries, and Zach doesn’t know who to comfort first so he stands still on the spot.

And he wishes there wasn’t a camera between them so he could scoop them up in his arms and fix them.

—

When she’s seventeen, she’s standing in the hallway of their home in a emerald dress hovering just above her ankles. Like the day she was born, she’s the most beautiful little – not so little anymore – girl he’d ever seen in his life.

Sarah’s snapping the photographs this time because he’s trying to suppress his tears as he watches her shine in front of him. _Are you crying?_ she asks, her cheeks flushing red when he nods. _You’re so embarrassing, Dad._

And she hugs Sarah tight before leaving for her prom, merely waving goodbye to him. And he’s losing parts of her everyday since he randomly walked back into her life. His baby girl isn’t his baby girl anymore- and his tears feel out of place. 

—

When she’s eighteen, they drive in silence to Idaho where she’s starting college. Leo sits in the passengers seat with earbuds in, the buzz of her music faint in his ears.

Sarah was adamant on coming with them but got held up with a work commitment, crying over the phone as she didn’t say a proper goodbye to Leo before she left. Leo’s crying, too. He helps her cart every piece of furniture up to her dorm and arrange it in somewhat of a clean apartment.

And he wishes Zach would have taken the drive with them, just so this goodbye wouldn’t be as awkward as it would be. And he holds his tears inside because his baby girl is at college, majoring in math which he can’t even understand anymore. 

He tells her goodbye, call me if you need anything, and don’t be a stranger at home. Come back whenever you need to. And Leo walks across the room and wraps her arms around him tightly.

The wrinkles on the corners of his eyes are worn once again as he grips back onto her tightly, tears squeezing their way from his eyes. Leo sniffs, and his heart leaps in panic as she cries.

 _Thanks, Dad_ , she says, pulling away from him as his hands sit on the sides of her body. She traces the growing wrinkles in his face, laughing a little as he cries. _You’re crying_ , she says.

He laughs, kissing her between the eyes, shutting them in relief. And he says one thing in response; _always for you, my baby girl _.__

**Author's Note:**

>  **title:** quote from ' _the kite runner_ ' by _khaled hosseini_
> 
> find me elsewhere:
> 
>  **twitter:** vanlangs  
>  **tumblr:** bisexualieberman


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